Mom was devastated after the loss of Joey and felt that she needed to get another 'tiel to help with the grieving process. She watched me several times in the pet store and I figured I had better do something to make her pick me! I decided to just be my cute self and it worked! She bought me on September 11, 2013. On the way home from Castlegar, she told me all about this wonderful cockatiel named Joey. I wish I could have known him! He must have been incredible!.

Hi JazzThanks so much for your support this past month. It's meant a lot to me! Please feel free to come by the castle any time and stay for as long as you'd like. I had fun with the campaign, and hope you had fun learning about Pittsburgh, too. Happy New Year! Hugs, King Peppino

Hi Jazzand flock and parronts ... wishing you a wonderful Happy New Year. It's another day of snowing and blowing with a high of 15 degrees (wind chill -2). I want to wish all of you a very HEALTHY & HAPPY NEW YEAR from us up north. Bliadhna Mhath Ur (Scottish Gaelic for Happy New Year). We'll take a cup o' kindness yet ... for auld lang syne. Hugs Chyna

Hi Jazzand the whole wonderful Nelson flock and family!We are wishing you the best New Year filled with love and good health and all good things to come your way!Loving you always and forever,The Adler flock and family too!

Hi JazzToday we're going across the bridge to the Carnegie Museum where mom works sometimes. They have a Neapolitan Presepio which has statuary in it dating from 1730 to the late 1800s. It's a Pittsburgh tradition that this scene is set up in the Hall of Architecture every year, and people come from all over to see it. Mom was there a couple of weeks ago when tourists from Italy came. She stayed and listened for a few minutes to one of the ladies in the group tell the history of presepi, in Italian, but she had to leave to pick up a tour group. Anyway, the oldest figures are made of painted terra cotta, and the newer ones are like collectible dolls, in that they have porcelain hands, feet, and face, and the rest of them is linen over a wire armature, so they can be posed. In my fifth pic, all the angels are made like that. In the fourth pic is a mix of old and new figurines. The third pic shows a Turkish band, popular in Naples in the mid 1800s. The presepio shows a whole town, with some folks aware of the holy birth and others who are just going about their business. The second pic displays some of that. In the first pic, that is totally Neapolitan! The holy family are in an ancient temple setting, and it always has one broken pillar (as opposed to the traditional setting in a stable). The broken pillar signifies a break with the Old Testament and the start of the new. Mom forgot to get a pic of the sleeping shepherd. He is also important in this scene. He can signify one of 2 things: he's a sleepy shepherd who missed the angel's message, or he represents the rest of humanity that is still sleeping today. If you ever come to Pittsburgh during the Christmas season, be sure to see the presepio, and look for the dove and the fisherman. (The dove is in a different place every year, and the fisherman is one of the original pieces.) We wish you the Merriest Christmas ever! Thanks for your votes, and see you tomorrow back at Phipps! Hugs, Peppino

HI Nelson FlockI just wanted to wish you and your family and flock all a very Merry Christmas and a safe one too. I didn’t see Santa bird but know he was here cause I got some presents so I must have been a good boy. “The best thing about a person like is that you bring out the best in everybody”. Leaving a vote for you my friend~~ Gus (RIP Chi chi)

Hi JazzMERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOUR WONDERFUL FLOCK AND FAMILY! We are all wishing you a greyt Christmas filled with love and family and lots of toys and treats that you so deserve from Santa Bird! Love always and forever from the Adler flock and family

scary,wouldn't want to fall off that into the water!At any rate traveling around here yesterday was a total nightmare all over,with everything going on with accidents,fires and road blocks and trucks slamming into the Bridge scaffolding! The highs for today were 46 and our lows will be 41. Oh those new phones take some getting used to and especially the speaker phone!Mom uses hers all the time and my frother Kallie just hates the phone whether its on speaker or not!He just hates phones in general!Mom has got to tell dad to close our curtains,he does everything else for us but that!We are going to have temps in the 60's here for Christmas and lots and lots of rain!Its okay by us as we will all get a Christmas that way and my dad won't be flying out the door to go to work,snow means work and good bye to dad! Wishing you a greyt day and I'm sending you all my love along with warm tiel hugs and soft tiel kisses!Loving you always and forever,Love Peepers

Hi JazzThis morning Mom got us all up early and cleaned our cages quickly and gave us our pastene and egg breakfast and gave both Dixie and Mario their meds and then took off for Nana's before 9:00am.It was a dark gloomy day here but the day was 45 degrees and not too cold.Mom picked up Nana and they took off to Market Basket and bought quite a few things there at least Mom wasn't too bad about spending too much money,she only spent $26.00 there and got lots of things from milk to lots of reduced fruits and veggies and single bottles of water.Then they went to Hyannis and went to Trader Joe's and Nana got a few things there and then from Trader Joe's they went to The Dollar Tree,then Itz a Party,then Shaws where both Mom and Nana got a few things,then off to Walgreen's where both Nana and Mom got some gravy that was reduced in price and then they went to Stop&Shop and they both picked up some chicken breast all done in Panko so by the time they got out of there it was after 3:00pm and they still hadn't had lunch so they went home to Nana's and Nana made them some Italian wedding soup which was good on a wet dark day like today.Then as it was really getting dark Mom came home after four sometime and scrambled to put all the things she bought away and then take care of us,our dad came home before Mom did and he gave us all our snacks and filled our pellet bowls and while he went out to feed the wild birds,Mom started dinner and she made grilled cheese as she was too tired to pull out anything from the freezer and start cooking,dad really enjoyed it and Mom gave him some gingerbread cake she picked up today for dessert!Mom is going to be home with us all day tomorrow and we just can't wait to have her all to ourselves even though she'll be busy trying to get some baking done and the house chores caught up on and the presents wrapped! Our frother Mario was very sick this morning and threw up all over Mom,himself,the floor and his cage when she tried picking him up to take him out to the kitchen to give him his meds.Mom had to wash him up good and then herself and the floor etc and then she gave him time to settle down before she had to give him his meds,he keeps fighting her on taking them and Mom feels so bad she has to be the bad one and get him to take his meds.She had left him his bowl of pastene with egg as he was in no mood to eat it just then but by the time Mom came home tonight his dish was empty so Mom gave him a few pellets to try and eat if he was hungry enough!Mom is waiting a while to give him his nighttime dose just to be sure that he's not upset again. Then yesterday when all the fires were occurring and the roads were being blocked off in my Mom,skin bro and Nana's travels,a truck slammed into the scaffolding on the Sagamore Bridge(they are working on the Bridge) and that was shut down for hours not letting anyone on or off so they could check for structural damage.That Bridge is so high very far above the canal down below,really sca

Hi JazzThanks for your vote every day! I love hearing from you. Today we are going to visit the National Aviary located right here in Pittsburgh. We will spend at least 2 days here, because it's one of mom's favorite spots. The 4th picture just shows the building, but it's when you get inside that it gets colorful and interesting. The thire picture shows lories, and twice a day they allow the public to enter their enclosure and offer them nectar. It's so neat to have the birds land on you and drink nectar from your container! The second pic shows part of the tropical forest area. Can you guess the bird? It's a pigeon! Isn't it gorgeous? The aviary has many habitats, and the penguin in the first picture is showing one of them. It's a temperate zone penguin, so it can live outdoors all year round here. The aviary has feeding times that people can watch with the penguins too. They have produced chicks last year and this year, as well. Tomorrow we'll see more of the aviary, its habitats, and learn a bit more about the birds housed there and their programs. See you then, hope you are having a great day! Hugs, Peppino

Hi JazzThanks for your continuing votes! I love hearing from you every day, too. Today we are taking some public transportation! Not your common bus, subway, or trolley, but the INCLINE! (Pittsburgh does have the trolleys, buses, and a little subway system as well.) For anyone not from around here, the inclines are a way to get from downtown to either Mount Washington or the South Side, depending on which one you take. The first 2 shots are the Duquesne Incline, which goes up from Station Square in town to Mount Washington, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh that offers spectacular views of the downtown area. The next 2 are the Monongahela (or Mon) incline, which goes to the slopes of the South Side of the city. Believe it or not, there used to be public steps every bit as steep as the inclines are, where steelworkers and glassworkers would climb from their jobs to their homes. Imagine going up a couple hundred steps after a long day in the mill! The inclines were originally used for that same purpose, but today they are mostly a tourist attraction, although some folks still park up there and ride to town because parking is cheaper on the hills. If you are a senior citizen, you ride for free, the same as all the public transportation in the city. I hope you are having a fun day today and getting some sun. It's cold and kind of snowy here. Hugs, Peppino

Hi JazzThis morning was a drab dismal day with pouring rain early in the morning and then the sun came out nicely for a short period of time,then it went back to being miserable and very foggy with the temperatures at 45, the highs were to be 50 and the lows are to be 35.Mom got us up early and cleaned our cages and gave us some Madagascar mix and pellets as she ran out of our bean mix,then skin sis came by and they took off for zumba class and then after they got out from there they went to Nana's and skin bro met them there and they went over the Bridge to Wareham to celebrate Nana's birthday at LongHorn restaurant as the skin sibs wanted to take her out.Mom had shrimp and lobster soup as did Nana and a mixed green salad,then after they were done skin sis ordered the chocolate stampede cake for Nana's birthday and was that ever good.Then they went to Target and did some shopping there,then went back to The Dollar Tree in Wareham as ours was set fire to in Falmouth,then they went back to Nana's and dropped skin bro off as he had to be somewhere for a job and they went to Marshall's and got more shopping done there.By the time they got back to Nana's it was well past 5:00pm,so skin sis drove Mom back home and she got dad a tv dinner as she was too tired to cook and it was too late to take something out,then she cleaned our cages,dad had already gave us our snacks and filled our pellet dishes and put the light on for for us and we were screaming for Mom to close our curtains.We hate seeing the darkness outside,its so scary to us!After Mom put the things she got away and served dad his dinner,she sat down and made out more cards to get in the mail in the morning. Oh how wonderful for your Mom's friend to give her a nice phone with speaker phone and caller ID and the answering machine!Mom's phone has a speaker phone and its cordless also and she uses it all the time,my frother Kallie just hates the phone and will bite Mom if she has it in her hand while trying to hold him!I don't think that Kallie will ever get used to the phone as he's been around it since forever! Wishing you a greyt day and I'm sending you all my love along with warm tiel hugs and soft tiel kisses!Loving you always and forever,Peepers

Hi JazzThanks for your votes and visits daily! I love hearing from everybirdie. Yesterday we did everything Heinz, today we are moving to Frick. He was one of those robber baron guys, but he gave back some to the city. Not like Andrew Carnegie, who gave back a ton, but still... Henry Clay Frick gave Pittsburgh Frick Park, a beautiful space in the eastern part of the city with tennis courts, many playgrounds, walking trails, a nature center, a running track, an exercise track, a bowling green, as well as many picnic pavilions. In my pics today, the fifth and sixth ones are of Frick Art museum, right across from the bowling greens of the park. The Museum isn't part of the park, though. It's a small museum with many beautiful paintings. In a neighboring block is Clayton, a Frick city mansion. One of the pics is the garage. A friend of mom's is curator of the cars. The mansion itself is huge, the rooms are incredible, there is great woodwork inside. Right now it's decked out for the holidays. I don't know if you can see it, but one of the pics shows the staircase draped in greens. There are tours conducted there when people request them. I hope you are still enjoying your tour of Pittsburgh. I'm having fun bringing to you all the great areas of the city. Hope also that you are having a great day! Hugs, Peppino

Hi JazzThis morning was a dull gray dismal day here no sun at all,the temperatures got up to 43 and it was not that warm but not that cold either.Mom got us up fairly early and cleaned our cages and then got ready to go take Nana out for her birthday lunch as Mom's sister was supposed to go with them but at the last minute she said she couldn't make it and she'd be down later on so Mom and Nana ran some errands before they went to lunch,they went to Christmas Tree Shop and checked out PetCo and then went to eat at the 99 Club where they both got a classic hamburger with butternut squash instead of the fries and coleslaw.They checked out the Gap and went to the post office and then came back to Nana's as it was getting dark and Mom didn't want to get stuck driving in the darkness,which it was nearly dark by the time she got into our driveway.Dad had come home first and he put our light on and gave us our snacks which made us happy while Mom made fresh sandwiches for dad's lunch for tomorrow and cleaned our cages for the night!Mom and dad finally got our tree up last night and its really beautiful and now we have something pretty to look at when we go in the tv room!Mom is going to be gone all day tomorrow as she has to go on her errands so it'll be another day that we're in lockdown. Mom just had another hectic night here,she was on the phone and our fid sitters daughter called her and wanted Mom to go across the street to check on her,so she did and then she found out that the fid sitters phones were not working and she's got Life Alert and that wouldn't be working as both her phones were down,so then Mom had to go and get my dad's cell phone to bring it over to her so she could talk to her daughter and see for herself that she was all right,the fid sitter and then the fid sitter had Mom over there til way past nine so Mom is just getting to our visits now,she had thought that we could get our visits in and be done early but that's not going to happen,Mom is so tired but she will get as much of our visits in as possible as she's off and running again tomorrow and won't be home til late again!Mom wants to know whats it like to be bored? We sure do hope that they do get your sweet Momma's car fixed in three days time!Does my Mom know what that's like and it sure is a pain in the tail feathers to be without your car whenever you need to go out,but then its good for us fids as it keeps Mom stranded at home with us! Wishing you a greyt day and I'm sending you all my love along with warm tiel hugs and soft tiel kisses!Loving you always and forever,Peepers

Hi JazzThanks for stopping by again! I appreciate each blog and vote, and of course, all the hugs, too. Today we're going to do everything Heinz! You may have noticed that Pittsburgh has some recurring names to things, Carnegie, Frick, Mellon, Heinz... So the Heinz family built the Heinz plant on the North Side of the city, and they made 57 varieties of things, including Heinz Ketchup. (They also gave PA a great senator, John Heinz, who passed away at a young age.) Anyway, they have given a lot back to the city, so going from the last new pics (5&6) to the first they are 2 shots of Heinz Chapel. This is a nondenominational church located on the University of Pittsburgh campus, very close to the Cathedral of Learning (and the museum). One of mom's nieces got married there, it's a very popular place for weddings. There are both exterior and interior views. The next 2 pics(3&4) are at Heinz field, the Great Hall. This is where the several Vince Lombardi trophies and super bowl rings, as well as lots of other Steeler memorabilia, are shown. It's like its own museum. The first 2 pics are the Heinz plant and the pickle pin! When mom was young, Heinz plant tours were popular for kids. Her class toured the plant, and each kid was given a pickle pin at the end of the tour. They must have given out millions of pickle pins in their time here. Today the plant is owned by DelMonte, and lots of the stuff isn't made here any more, but the building still stands. And we've seen Heinz Field and the Heinz History Museum already. So that's all things Heinz in our area! Thanks for reading, and hope you have a lovely day, and get lots of attention. BTW, did you see the parrots singing carols on the new newsletter? They are really fun to watch. Hugs, Peppino

Hi JazzMom was up early cleaning our cages and feeding us our breakfast so she could vacuum the house and see if she could get the tree out and ready with the lights to put in the windows and skin bro was at the door,he had walked the 3 or 4 miles down from the repair shop where he left his car to be serviced,he needed a new flange and his exhaust system had a leak in it so he waited with Mom and played with some of us until they called to let him know his car was ready.He's trying to get an inspection sticker for over a year now and keeps getting the Rejection sticker.Hopefully his car will pass it this time and there won't be anymore problems.Mom gave him some money to cover the cost of the bill as he didn't have enough.Then Mom drove him back to the repair shop,he was going to walk back again,but why do that when its so cold out?Mom gave him some breakfast and then drove the three minutes to where his car was and when she came home she quickly vacuumed the house and pulled the lights out and the tree,she still has to find room for the plants in the window where the tree is going! Its a bright sunny day here but cold with 41 degrees and the highs are to be 44 with the lows of 35.Mom is happy as long as its not snowing out she'll deal with the cold! Mom took us out to the acrylic cage to be in the sunshine and to have a view of the outside world and to give us a change of scenery! Mom finally got our tree up tonight and the lights in the tv room window where the tree is in front of!Now we can look at the pretty lights! Mom is off and running again tomorrow to take Nana out for her birthday lunch so who knows when Mom will be coming home again!This is going to be a week of Mom never being home!Uggggh! Wishing you a greyt day and I'm sending you all my love along with warm tiel hugs and soft tiel kisses!Loving you always and forever,Peepers

Hi JazzThanks for the votes every day! I really love hearing from you, too. Before we leave the Strip, we have to visit St. Stanislaus Church, it's right in the center of things, there on Smallman Street! The first 2 pics in my gallery show one of the oldest churches in Pittsburgh, St. Stanislaus in the Strip. I thought while we were seeing churches, we could go back to Oakland and see St. Paul's Cathedral, the next 2 pics in my gallery. This is the biggest Catholic church in the area. The last 2 new pics are of East Liberty Presbyterian Church, built by the Mellons in the 1800s. The people in Pittsburgh at the time called it Mellon's Fire Escape! Maybe it was, who knows? Today at that church, there are organ recitals every week, and Taize music some evenings. If you don't know the Taize stuff, you should google it and listen to a piece or 2, it's beautiful singing. So, tomorrow we will go back to Oakland to see other things, including Heinz Chapel. You may have noted Heinz field, Heinz History museum, and now Heinz chapel; what's that all about? We'll talk more tomorrow! Hope you have a spectacular day. Hugs, Peppino

Hi JazzSkin sis came over early and whisked Mom away but first she wanted Mom to go up to the attic and get her Christmas Tree and she did that and then they took off to Nana's to make homemade ravioli's and they also made homemade linguine!Skin bro was there also and Nana had made a key lime cake and then they stopped for a break and had some of that with coffee before they continued on,then Nana sent out for take out Chinese and the skin sibs went out and picked it up for them while Mom and Nana continued making the ravioli's.In the end Mom and Nana made two dozen ravioli's and they made quite a bit of linguine so they should be all set for Christmas dinner now.When skin sis brought Mom home she had to get dad his dinner and us all fed and cleaned for the night.We were all yelling at her for being late again even though our dad was home,he fed us our pellets and gave us our snacks and put the light on for us but he didn't close our curtains,we don't like looking at the darkness outside the window and the spooky lights passing by from the cars going up and down the street! Mom came home to find that Kallie was BOTD and now she really has her hands full with taking all three of us to write out our thank you's!I think by the time she catches Kallie up with his her fingers will start to fall off one at a time with all this frantic typing she's been doing for us three!That should teach her not to go out on a Sunday when she should be home with us and taking us to our visits,she wouldn't be so far behind if she just stayed home once in a while! We just love our showers outside in the sunshine in the summer sun!We sure miss all that and I just love to lift my wings up high for Mom to get under my wing pits,and oh how wonderful to be drying off in the warm summer sun!Now Mom has to chase us all over the cage to give us a shower and the water just goes everywhere!Sometimes she'll put us all in the sink and spray us with the sprayer and get us all soaked! Wishing you a greyt day and I'm sending you all my love along with warm tiel hugs and soft tiel kisses!Loving you always and forever,Peepers

Hi JazzThanks for your ongoing support! Today I posted one more pic of PennMac, the cheese counter! It is as popular as the meat counter, and always crowded. Next, while we are in the Strip District, we have to visit the Heinz History Center. It's in the heart of the Strip District, and houses Pittsburgh history, including a trolley. They have traveling exhibits there, too. They are doing a Heinz exhibit right now though, featuring Heinz ketchup and pickles, haha. The first pic is one of an evaluation of antiques they do at the history center each August. From what the people bring in to be assessed, they film 10 to 12 episodes of Hidden Treasures, a TV show kind of like Antiques Roadshow, but with all Pittsburghers and their stuff. Some of it is quite valuable. We probably should leave the Strip soon, so mom doesn't end up buying a lot of stuff. Some of the stores, like Wholey's fish market, are unique and wonderful to visit! See you tomorrow with another installment of Pittsburgh stuff. Hope you are having a great day! Hugs, Peppino

Hi JazzOh it sure is amazing all the idiots out there that shouldn't have the right to drive a car,truck or anything thats on wheels!And there are way too many that are on their phones oblivious of the world around them!That sure must've been scary for your poor sweet Mom to have to jump up on the sidewalk to avoid getting killed by the idiot flying down the one way street the wrong way,and its a wonder that no one was on the sidewalk while your poor Mom had to drive there!What a disaster that would've been for all involved! We had bright sunshine for a good part of the day but by two this afternoon it started getting dark again,it was 39 and cold!My dad usually is home when Mom is late but he had to work all last night and never came home from his first shift so Mom was late coming home in the dark so we were very upset with her,but she came in afterwards to our room and gave us all a snack and closed the curtains for us,we hate having to see the darkness out the windows and the lights from the cars passing down the street! Wishing you a greyt day and I'm sending you all my love along with warm tiel hugs and soft tiel kisses Loving you always and forever,Peepers

Hi JazzThank you for your daily visits and votes! Today we are visiting another area of Pittsburgh which used to be little known, but now is pretty much known to any tourist who comes here. It's the Strip District. No, people don't strip to go there, it's a strip along the Allegheny River very close to town. It used to be a large warehouse district where greengrocers, butchers, and other merchants went early in the day (think 3AM) to get fresh supplies for their stores. The public could also go there and shop. In mom's family, they went in the fall to get whole pigs for sausages and crates of grapes for wine. Over time, as more of the public went there to shop for goods, it became specialized into ethnic shopping areas. There were stores like the Pennsylvania Macaroni company, catering to Italians, Stamboolis, catering to near eastern groups, Greek and Asian markets, etc. Today, the strip has become more genteel, so to speak. There are no longer hucksters in the streets, and lots of the big warehouses are now art galleries, bars, dance clubs, or broken into groups of smaller shops, like the Pittsburgh Public Market. The oldest stores, like PennMac (Mom's favorite), Wholey's Fish market, and a few others are still up and thriving, but smaller markets, like the biscotti company are doing well too. They have even started sidewalk cafes in the strip for the summer trade. It retains some of its old flavor, though, which makes it still a great place to walk and shop. Have a wonderful day, don't forget to give out kissies for those scritches. Hugs, Peppino

Hi JazzThis morning was a bright sunny morning after nearly a week of darkness and all that rain and some snow!It was freezing though and never went any higher than 41 degrees.The lows for tonight will be 29.Mom got us all up early and cleaned our cages and fed us our warm bean mix,collected the trash and loaded it in her car,then she warmed the car up while she got Dixie's carrier ready and put him in it and they took off for Nana's where both Nana and Mom went to the dump,then to the bank,then to True Value for Mom to get a drill bit for dad,then to Comcast to pay their bills,then to Christmas Tree Shop,Petco and then they walked over to see the Dollar Tree that the arsonist burned and it was awful,the floor was all burned off and everything was empty on the shelves and the door they busted to get in the place was all boarded up.Then Mom and Nana went to WalMart and Mom bought two 40 lb bags of wild bird seed,and a few other things and they met skin bro there,Mom was happy to see him as he lifted the heavy bags of bird seed for her and put them into the cart and then into the car.Then skin bro had to go to the Auto parts store and Mom and Nana went to Shaws and bought some things that were on sale and then after that they came back to Nana's to have another late lunch around 3:30pm.Skin bro met us at Nana's and they all had lunch together,then as it was starting to get really dark fast,Mom packed up Dixie and headed for home.It was really dark by the time she got out of Nana's street and those of us who had to stay home were in the dark as our dad was working the Christmas Stroll in Osterville tonight so we had no snacks,no pellet refills in our dishes and no light on.We all really yelled at Mom for not coming home sooner.But as soon as Mom got the car unpacked she came into our room and cleaned our cages for the night,closed our curtains and gave us our snacks.Dad called Mom to make sure that she was home as he knows she hates to drive in the dark and now for a while Mom is helping us to catch up with our visits before our dad gets home!Other than that its been an uneventful day! Oh your poor sweet Mom!That happened to my Mom several times and you aren't lying about how frustrating and very stressful it is to have to deal with the insurance companies and the car repair shops and in most cases the wait to get in to get your car repaired is like three weeks or more,and then all the paperwork from the insurance companies,what a pain and accident reports!There seems to be more and more people on the phone while they are driving these days and especially in the parking lot,they don't even look,Mom had one today just shot right out of the parking area onto the main road and nearly smashed her front end,Mom had to slam on the brakes,in order to avoid hitting her!Its just too sad!We all sure hope that your poor Mom can get this taken care of quickly,Mom knows just how stressful all that is! Wishing you a greyt day and I'm sending you all my love along wi

HI JAZZTHE WEATHER IS JUST NUTS HERE. ITS BEEN DARK AND DREARY FOR FIVE DAYS NOW, NO SUN. I THINK IT WENT ON STRIKE. THEY STILL AREN'T SAYING JUST WHAT KIND OF WINTER WE WILL BE HAVING. ITS WEIRD CONSIDERING THAT LAST YEAR WE HAD TONS OF SNOW. NOW WE HAVE NOTHING. I THINK ITS GOING TO BE A DARK DREARY CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR.

Hi JazzIt was a dark as night,dismal,dreary pouring rainy day here all day long with the winds really whipping all the tall trees over!It was fairly warm here 54 degrees but it made all of us feel like sleeping all day and Mom finally had to cave and put the light on in our room around two this afternoon as it got so dark we couldn't see!We were all unusually quiet because of the day long darkness even though Mom had our radio going from the time she got us all up this morning.Then around three oclock this afternoon the skies got all yellow and it was really strange to see that kind of light coming in through our windows.I sure know what you mean about having to fight to get those head scritches,I have to do the same whenever all my frothers and fister are all so demanding of Mom all at the same time as me!Don'tcha just love getting your cheeks rubbed the most?OHHHH!I turn my head to the side so Mom can get every inch of it and I close my eyes and just enjoy the rubs!You really sound so sweet when you get to snuggle on your sweet Momma's hand and let her know just what it is that you'd like her to do! Oh and now I have to wait because my frother got BOTD today so Mom is typing her fingers off to help him with his thank you's so me and Kallie are last in line to get to our visits!Now is that fair or Not! Wishing you a greyt day and I'm sending you all my love along with warm tiel hugs and soft tiel kisses!Loving you always and forever,Peepers

Hi JazzToday we will visit the zoo, a small part of Highland Park, but a well known zoo in the US. There is also the PPG aquarium there, but we will look at it later. The zoo is one of the 6 largest in the country and has changed a lot over the years. Mom used to hate to go there when she was small because all the animals were in cages. Now they all have large open areas to live in, and they look much happier. There is an Asian forest section, with neat tigers and other animals, including a komodo dragon; a primate house with large enclosures for gibbons, lemurs, great apes, and many kinds of monkeys; an African savannah with elephants, zebras, giraffes, etc. There are lots of birds there too, waterfowl, flamingos, owls, etc. There is a children's zoo, an education building, a bat house, a reptile house, a large pool with seals. It's a great place to walk around and spend a day. The zoo even invites senior citizens every Wednesday morning before opening to walk around there instead of walking the mall! I bet you'd love to see the zoo! Hope you are having a good day. Thanks again for supporting me this month, and here's a vote for you too. Hugs, Peppino

Hi JazzNo new pics today because we're revisiting the parks momentarily. I did post the Pirate parrot and the Penguin penguin, though. As I said yesterday Pittsburgh has some rabid sports fans, and there is sports memorabilia for sale in a lot of places in the city. But Pittsburghers also love to participate in sporting events. There are baseball and softball areas in all the parks, as well as tennis courts, some soccer fields, basketball courts, even places to play tetherball. Frick even has a bowling green and leagues that play there all summer long. As well as the ball parklets in the parks, there is an ice skating rink at Schenley Park, and swimming pools at both Schenley and Highland Parks.If a person isn't so sports minded, there are family picnic pavilios, many of the parks offer community gardens, Frick has a nature center with programs, and of course there is the zoo and aquarium at Highland Park. We'll talk more of that tomorrow. I hope you are having a good day, and maybe even thinking of visiting our city at some point. Mom loves to take folks around. Hugs, Peppino

Hi JazzIt was a freezing cold day this morning with very little to no sunshine and the temperatures were 39 the highs being 40 and the lows of 26 which its 34 right now and the winds are blowing at 50mph!Mom cleaned our cages,made breakfast and got my dad's things ready for work and then made him an early lunch as he had to leave by 2:20pm to get to work.Skin sis came over in the meantime with her laundry and she and Mom went over the recipe book to figure out what they would be making today.Dad left and Mom and skin sis started baking and they made Red Velvet Cake,Cranberry Pudding,Pumpkin Pecan Cake,Caramel Chocolate Chunk Blondies,Peanut Butter Cookies and Candy Corn Cookies,Mom was busy with the clean up of all the baking dishes,mixing bowl and utensils,while Skin sis took care of the laundry.Mom then had to vacuum the kitchen as it was such a mess from all the baking and then she did the whole dining room and bird room,by the time Mom put all the laundry away after skin sis left with half of what they baked it was near 7:30pm.Mom hasn't stopped all day!Finally she is here to bring us to our visits and to take our dictation,while she waits for dad to come home.Again Mom never got to get the tree up,maybe tomorrow. Wishing you a greyt day and I'm sending you all my love along with warm tiel hugs and soft tiel kisses!Loving you always and forever,Peepers

Hi JazzThanks for your vote, I appreciate each one. Today we can visit the sports arenas of the city. Pittsburgh has 3 teams, the Pirates (whose mascot is a parrot), the Penguins (whose mascot is a penguin, of course), and the Steelers (whose mascot is creepy!). So, I'm showing 2 pics of the North Shore, where the Pirates play baseball in PNC Park and the Steelers play at Heinz Field. Pitt also plays football at Heinz Field. The hockey arena is my third pic, that's the new Consol Energy Center. Other events are held there as well, the circus, ice shows, the occasional basketball game, concerts, etc. Pittsburgh boasts some rabid sports fans, and there are lots of places in town where a person can buy Pirate, Penguin, or Steeler gear and other memorabilia. I hope you are having a happy day and whatever team you root for in football wins today. Hugs, Peppino

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